


Shyerna and the Jack of Diamonds

by phoenixreal_gaming (phoenixreal)



Series: Shyerna, Broadreach Elven Ranger [2]
Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Scarred Lands
Genre: Gen, Slavery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-03
Updated: 2017-02-03
Packaged: 2018-09-21 17:35:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9559835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phoenixreal/pseuds/phoenixreal_gaming
Summary: Jack of Diamonds acquires a prize.





	

 

Art by Stuart Gormly

* * *

 

Jackoby Mian was born in Calastia.  Unlike many of his fellows who were too satisfied with the limits of their foreseeable life, Jack had a dream, though he really didn’t know how to make it come true—Jack wanted to run a circus.  He wanted to travel through towns and show small time people big time adventures.  At an early age he decided that it would be a grand moneymaking scheme, and he’d be rich by thirty.

Of course, the implementation of such a plan was far more difficult than he imagined.  Strange and powerful animals are extremely hard to control, as he found out with his first experience with a spider he captured that was the size of a dog.  He decided he needed a new plan.  A bit of fortune was with him, for he ran into a woman named Diamenten, who had been rejected by the Calastian Battle Mage college of study (she was rather sickly and not strong enough to hold a sword).  She told Jack that a few mages (like herself, she jutted) knew powerful spells that could at least briefly turn a person into any of the animals he was talking about.  Intrigued, he asked Dia to join him, and together they would make money the likes of which they’d never seen.

The fledgling “Jack’s Amazing Creatures” was rather puny, with strange creatures that looked like (but didn’t act or fight like) what they were supposed to be.  Jack had acquired a book of animals native to the continent and picked a few and placed them in small cages.  These animals were really people he was paying five gold a day to impersonate the animals.  After a while, Jack noted that paying these people was eating his profits quite completely, though the fact that they weren’t real animals and didn’t require maintenance was extremely nice.

Dia’s powers were decent, but she could only transform a couple people per day until she became more powerful, and the transformations didn’t last long, requiring Jack to be very careful and also cut things short at times.  He wanted to expand the attractions.  Jack decided that having some colorful people would be interesting, and staging battles like gladiatorial matches might bring in more people.  Soon, many people filled the area around the match arena (a circle of stones on the ground back then) and watched as a dwarf battled it out with an orc (a fellow shape shifted into a dwarf and a half orc he’d hired).  It was a great success. 

Soon, Jack had enough money to start buying wagons and hiring guards, and he started to travel between small towns.  His show was nothing in the bigger cities, but in the little towns he visited, it was amazing.  These common people had never seen these things before and they were fascinated.  None of them knew how terribly inaccurate the whole thing was. 

Dia took on an apprentice, a young man named Altare.  Jack hired a fun guy to be a healer, because, well, Jack could boost spirits and speed recovery somewhat, but he needed a priest, and who better than a priest of the trickster, right?  Bricke, was his name, and he was rather fun to be around, and had a penchant for gambling, though he most often won.  The worst part was Bricke’s clumsiness, but that could be worked with.  He didn’t even want much pay, just the chance to watch the chaos now and then.  With Jack having enough money to purchase eight slaves to do most of the grunt work, he found he could let go of some of the hired hands.

And thus, one afternoon in the spring of 149 AV, _Jack’s Show of Victory_ set off.  They promised viewings of titanspawn from all over the place, and some of the fierce warriors that defeated them.  They toured many small towns and used their tricks to great effect.  But still that wasn’t enough.  After swindling town after town, Jack felt he could do so much more if he had something authentic in his show. He dreamed of the wonders of Shelzar, with all the gambling and money and women…  The animals were okay, and so were the warriors, but they just didn’t cut it for a larger venue.  Shelzar was far away, and he didn’t know how he’d ever get there, but the more immediate question was: How to find something strange enough for his show to entertain the likes of Shelzar?

Albadia came to mind; he’d heard the barbarians there were certainly strange.  He sent word to his operatives, which over the years he’d acquired in various parts of the region and even continent, that he would give a finder’s fee of 30 platinum pieces to anyone who could find him a barbarian willing to work for him.  Soon, Jack had his newest acquisition.  The Albadian was great fun, a big towering blonde haired brute, and when he did mock battles with northern wolves (shape shifted guards of course), he was the hit of the evening.  But still, it wasn’t good enough.  Not for a big time venue.

As they traveled outside Three Moons in the autumn of the year 151 AV, they passed through a small wooded area.  Jack spied a small cabin on what according to his map was a good ways on the other side of the boundary.  Curious as to why someone would live alone this far from civilization, he sent a scout, who returned to tell him that it was a family of minotaur of all things, and they had a young one.  Jack smiled.  A minotaur. 

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

While they wintered over outside Oakdale, Dia supplied a potion—Jack didn’t ask from where—that accelerated growth, and the minotaur boy grew into an adult in size quickly, although much of his mind remained a child’s.

It was then that a trio of interesting individuals showed up for their own reasons and their own ends—a man named Arronus Marvent , and a powerful sorceress named Manariassa Sevech with her guard, Grimak, a large ugly half orc.  Arronus promised an easy way to contain anyone whom Jack wanted to capture, and force the captive to work for him without pay.   Manarissa’s powers, though fewer, made any single of Arronus’s abilities seem pale.  She could, and would, perform impressive magical theatrics for pay.  Jack never thought to ask why such a powerful spellcaster would work merely for pay, but he’d been around misfits for so long, he just took it for granted that misfits fell in together.

Arronus also promised, for a share of the profits, the use of some very interesting magical items that would easily entertain the commoners of the area.  Arronus also encouraged Jack to get rid of more of the hired hands and buy more slaves.  It would be cheaper in the long run, Arronus said.  This was the opportunity he’d been waiting for, Jack thought.  Now he could find some strange creatures and people that would fight for their lives, literally.

Growing up in Calastia and traveling widely, Jack had seen a few strange people and heard of many more.  Of the elves of the Hornsaw forest and their strange weapons.   Of the dwarves that wielded fighting chains.   Of a hin that fought with no weapons.  Dwarves that used great spear axes.  Perhaps a Slitherin or two… Maybe some were-creatures, and an ogre and orc.  Oh, if he could get one of each of those, along with the barbarian, he’d have a wonderful circus!  A Charduni and a Forsaken elf he could probably find and pay.  But he knew he couldn’t tempt an elf of the Hornsaw or the Hin monk.  A were creature would be a problem too, but at least money was no object.  The dwarves too would be a problem…how to get them to leave their home and make him money?

He sent word to his contacts of what he was seeking, and a reward of 1000 gold for anyone who could provide him with one of those creatures, willing or unwilling.  All he cared was that he received them alive, and, if injured, able to be healed.  He worked hard to bring in the gold to pay for these real beings that didn’t have to be shape changed.  And true to his word, Arronus provided Jack with powerful magic items to control them.  The items didn’t look powerful.  They were simple gold chains, and a ring that Jack could wear, but Jack, caught up in realizing his dream, placed his trust in the mysterious Arronus.  Arronus convinced Jack to hire some Chardunite clerics and some fledgling wizards to help things out.  These people could double as stage hands and make certain things went correctly, Arronus said.  By now, Jack had about ten warriors as guards, and four tough fighters. 

A woman wandered up to the circus, Anaveil by name, with a wonderful voice.  She was soon hired by Jack and would make be a featured songstress for all to hear, along with her companion, a lute player named Erican. 

She was in reality a Shadow Walker come to watch what all was happening with this show, a Voice of Drendari to be exact, one of the few.  Her bardic companion was her husband and also a Shadow Walker.  Her curiosity had gotten the best of her, and she desired to see what was happening.  While she personally didn’t care on the basis of morals, she was certain that causing some problems with someone like Jack, who was obviously a swindler of many years, would bring her some praise of the Mistress.  Especially since Anaveil had learned that Jack once revered the Lady of Shadows but now had left Her behind as his success had blossomed.

Within several days, an unconscious hin was brought to him.  He quickly attached the special gold chain to the form of the hin and had Bricke heal her.  When the hin awoke, she was, as Jack was promised, completely apathetic to things around her.  She was instructed to fight, and fight she did.  Splendid entertainment when pitted against the barbarian, and the hin would even sometimes win.  Sometimes, not most of the time, because Jack had learned to his disappointment that this hin was an apprentice of a great hin master-monk, not the master himself.  Nevertheless, she was still valuable, and Jack kept her hidden out of sight as they traversed the lands of the Heteronomy. 

A year passed.  During this time, Jack also acquired from Arronus and Manariassa, for a nominal charge, another interesting confine, a Red Witch Slitherin who had desired to worship Madriel rather than Mormo.   With the supplied special gold chain, she was rather easy to contain as well, though it was at times a bit of a battle of wills.

Jack was planning a grand tour with his expanded group now.  He’d even recruited one more powerful wizard that could be taught to change people’s shape, a quiet woman named Falia.  She didn’t do much else, but Jack liked to have powerful people around him, so he didn’t care.  Little did he know that Falia was a wizard working for some local Madrielites that didn’t appreciate what Jack was doing to these people.  She had actually been dispatched when Karas, the Red Witch Slitheren, had disappeared from the care of the convent.  Chardun’s sickening slavery permeated these lands, and this was just one more particularly egregious example.  She wanted to intercede, but the question was how, as most every intercession was forbidden by her order.   She continued to gather information, and would communicate with her superiors when she felt it was safe to do so.

Jack acquired word that one of his operatives who had been near part of the Hornsaw had completed the impossible and returned with one of the strange, tattooed elves of that region.  Jack sent word back to make certain the operative brought the elf’s weapons along, that Jack had no little use for one without the weapons. 

Several days later, about the time he was seeing to the securing of his wagons, Jack was flagged down by a boy come riding on a horse.  The boy said to wait a day, for his master came nigh with a present to collect his thousand gold reward.  Excitedly, Jack waited.  The next day, a small wagon came up.  A tall human got down and smiled to the man.  He had a pack slung across his back.

“You said a thousand gold for an elf from the Hornsaw and the elf’s weapons.  It wasn’t easy, but I managed it.  Lost three of my men, though; I expect to be compensated for that.” 

He dropped the pack and out tumbled several strange weapons that Jack had never even heard of.  “The weapons.”  He walked over to the wagon and picked up a bundle wrapped in a heavy blanket. 

“Fights tooth and nail too, hope you’ve got containment measures,” the man muttered as he dropped the bundle.  Jack stared at it; it was moving, slightly.  The man smiled.  He grasped the edge of the blanket and yanked, sending the form inside it rolling out of it.

Jack couldn’t help smiling as he handed the fellow a sack of gold.  “It’s got an extra 200 gold pieces for your trouble,” Jack said.

The man waved as he walked away.  “Pleasure doing business with you, Jack of Diamonds.” 

Jack waved back and walked over to the form of the creature that had been twirled out.  He couldn’t quite tell what he was dealing with yet, all he could see was tattooed flesh and rope.  He called over Altare.  He wasn’t going to touch until he knew.  Altare crouched down and rolled the body over, and then then jumped to his feet screeching as blood dripped down his arm from a bite on his hand.  But now the figure was face up, and Jack couldn’t have been more pleased.  Not only was it an elf, but it was also female.  Perfect.

“Well, pretty one, aren’t you colorful?” he muttered in Calastian.  Her hands had been double tied behind her, and then tied around her neck.  Her legs had been tied twice, ankle and knee, and he smiled. 

“You like to get out of ropes don’t you, sweetie?”  he said to her.  She growled at him. 

Altare was staring in disbelief at his hand.  “She bit me!” he said.  He came around and kicked her soundly right upside the head. 

Jack looked up.  “Don’t do that.  If anyone sees her with bruises or marks, it will bring questions I don’t want.  Go get the priest,” he said, touching her face where a bruise was quickly forming over her eye.  Her eyes had gone slightly crossed.  He assessed her.  Decently strong, although it was lean muscle, indicating she was agile.  Her eyes flitted with intelligence, so he knew she was no savage.  She was covered nearly head to foot with tattoos.  There were very few spots that he could see that were not covered.  He lifted her clothes, sparse as they were, and nodded with appreciation. That was about the only place there were no tattoos.  Her ears were pierced several times, and there were rings in her eyebrows and several that were around her belly button.

Bricke came and healed her up and immediately she started struggling against her bonds and to Jack’s amazement, nearly got her hands out of them. 

“No more of that, my pretty,” he said and quickly snapped the golden chain around her neck.

Jack felt the battle of wills commence.  He was struck to the knees with the pain as she fought him.  Bricke looked on slightly worried as the magic of the chains forced her will under control.  After a few moments, Jack stood up and she stopped where she was and relaxed.  “Untie her.”  And the others untied her.  He looked at her. 

“Stand up,” he said in Ledean, and she did.  She must understand Ledean sufficiently, Jack realized.

He picked up a strange round weapon from the ground.  “How do you use this?” he asked.  And this, what is it?  What are all of these?” 

She moved over and told him in an emotionless voice the names of each of her weapons and showed them how she held them.  Jack nodded in appreciation.  Falia watched them from afar.  Another one lost to domination, she thought bitterly. 

Arronus, however, was pleased.  The sorceress Mana, who any keen outside observer would have said always seemed to be biding her time for something, glanced at the tattooed elf.  Yes, that one would prove more than Jack could ever imagine, she thought.  Grimak stood beside her and grunted.

“You think that one will make trouble?” he asked, reading the thoughts of the powerful mistress he served.

She nodded, “Oh, yes.  Jack’s got himself a tiger by the tail.”

Overhead she heard the sound of an eagle.  She was certain that Jack had no idea what he had.  Mana shook her head, knowing he was getting into more than he could handle. 

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

The hardest part was that Shy knew what was happening, but had no control and didn’t care that she had no control.  For what seemed like endless months, Shy was little more than a puppet, like many of the others around her.  She would stand in the middle of the ring, her weapons mounted to the wall behind her, and then she’d give demonstrations.  Sometimes she would spar with the others.  Other times he would have her give “special” shows with the other females in the show, some bound like she was, others willingly.  Those were perhaps the worst.  She wanted nothing more than to rip the head off every male she saw, and she wanted to personally flay the skin off Jack’s living body.  Her eyes, though, were vacant, the spark of life suppressed completely by the fine magic chain around her neck.  She couldn’t even fight through it enough to reach up and grasp the necklace that her hands could break so very easily.  Even when the madness took her, she couldn’t do anything.  She was locked away unable to move unless he told her to do so.  She wanted to walk away, deep in her soul, the wandering taking her, but her legs wouldn’t move. 

She sat in the booth with the others, equally vacant, as the show was broken down night after night, and then they got a little break because of some winter weather.  It was nearing spring in the year 154.  Her madness had taken her again, the nightmares vivid and horrible every night last week, reliving horrible events of the war, and seeing the heartbreak of Jassa telling her mother that she was gone and probably dead.  And then last night somehow had been the breaking point when she watched through her dreams a family of titanspawn slaughtered by Jack’s people. 

She didn’t know how or why, but her will was stronger now and she stood up and began to walk away.  Jack’s voice could be heard yelling further some ways off.  Of course, he knew that she’d willed herself into moving her own body.  Anytime any of his will-slaves did something significant consciously, it hurt him.  That was the double-edged nature of the magic he was using to bind them to his will.  But this had never happened when Shy was maddened.  Usually the madness made her numb these days, but not this time.

She found herself staring into the eyes of the very large and strong young minotaur, Telios, that had been here since she was enslaved.  He wasn’t wearing a golden chain like she was.  He looked at her and she found herself crying all of a sudden.  She frowned and shook her head.

“Oh, you are just a baby,” she said in Ledean, and reached up to his massive head and caressed it.

He was frozen, unsure what to do, and confused by much of her accent.  “Jack did this to you, didn’t he? He took your mother and father.  But that’s okay.   I lost my baby; I’ll take you in,” she said, and Telios, even though he mostly understood her words, became even more confused.

Shy smiled as though she were indeed looking at her child, and to her mind, she was.  She was staring at her child before the hag had eaten her.  She was looking at her and the feelings of love and motherhood washed over her.  She didn’t see the circus show around her, she only saw trees and forest and her child, sitting above her in a Whisper tree, smiling at her.

“Mommy?” Shy heard her say, and Shy smiled.

“I’m here for you, sweet one.  I’m here,” she said, and embraced the image of her daughter. 

Of course, she was really embracing Telios’ large head, who was very confused by all of this.  Jack came around the corner, his nose bleeding, and stopped, staring.  Shy was smiling and had her head snuggled into the chest of the beast as though he were something special to her.

“I’ll take care of you, poor thing,” Shy whispered.  “It doesn’t matter what you look like, I’ll take care of you.  Titanspawn not, you are dear to me,” she said in that exotic accent again.

In her mind, her daughter had become deformed, transforming into the figure she was embracing in real life until she found herself back in reality.  She looked up into the beautiful and very confused eyes of the minotaur and she didn’t let go of him right away.  She blinked, her mind clearing suddenly as the madness began to fade, her eyes returning to the vibrant color they should be for a moment.  Telios studied her impassively.

Then she felt a sharp pain in her head and she slumped in the beast’s arms.  Telios held her up in his powerful arms and looked up.  Jack stood behind her, a sap in his hands.  Telios frowned for a moment as he held her limp form.  Jack smiled and motioned two guards to come pick her up and take her back.  Telios stared for a long moment and then turned and continued putting away the practice set up they’d had for the show.

Shy awoke in her cot on the wagon, her hands and feet tied to the side of the wagon, and once again, she had no will of her own.  She sighed as the wagon bumped and rolled into the night.

Jack had gotten what he wanted.  They plodded on, taking advantage of the mild late winter weather to stop in every town big enough to garner a profit along the way.  Jack rode in the last main wagon, the rest of his wagons before him filled with willing and unwilling participants, slaves, animals, and beasts.  The rides, attractions, and booths they erected followed in a caravan mixed with plain and decorated wagons and carts. Jack smiled, staring up at the night sky.  They rarely ran into anything that looked like trouble, given how big they were, and with Arronus, Mana, Grimak, and all the rest, “problems” seemed to clear up amazingly quickly.

The next town they came to, Telios didn’t remember what the name was, but it was a city really, and as they came in, he could hear the people run alongside the wagons.  Telios, like the other exhibits, was inside the closed wagons.  Jack wanted people to pay to see them, so showing them the exhibits for free would be unprofitable.

Telios was thoughtful as they rode.  A few of the others sat beside him—the Charduni chain master, a barbarian, and the cracked eyed elf.  They usually rode together, but Telios rarely talked.  He said his prayers to Corean in private, and spoke none about his personal faith.  He knew that these three certainly did not share his faith.  But despite being among non-Corean worshippers, Telios believed he owed Jack for rescuing him and trusting him.

But now, he questioned that idea.  Why would the elf have said something like she did?  Why would she have said that Jack had killed Telios’s family?  She’d never spoken to him before; in fact, she’d never even acknowledged his existence.  None of the majority of the females in the exhibition really acknowledged him.  The songstress and her lute player spoke to him now and then, and the wizardess who was kind to him spoke to him when no one was around.  The Broadreach elf, the Slitheren female, and the hin female monk always seemed to ignore him and the others completely.  He’s always thought it was his deep voice that might have intimidated them, but then, that couldn’t be it, as he rarely talked.

They pulled in and set up, Telios working as he always did.  After everything was done, he headed to the area where the elves were sitting waiting for the show to begin.  He walked up to the tattooed elf.

“What did you mean when you said Jack had murdered my family?” he asked.

She turned to him, her eyes vacant.  “I dreamed it.”

“Is it true?” Telios asked.

Shy’s eyes, still blank, stared into space.  “I only see truth.”

“Why don’t you talk?” he asked her.  “Why do you and these others sit and stare?”

She stared over his head and was quiet.  Telios move down the row to the others that rarely spoke, and found the same response, if any.  Jack saw him and moved quickly over to him.

“Telios, my boy, what is it?”  he asked.  “Is something wrong over here?”

Telios looked at him for a second.  “No, fine, was just checking on the structure.  It wobbled when I put it up.”

Telios left and headed to his booth.  He sat and prayed deeply and silently to Corean for guidance.

“You know they’re slaves, don’t you? Or are you really that daft?” a voice beside him said.  He looked over to see the songstress.

“He’s enslaved all the ones with gold chains on their necks.  It’s the power of Chardun, from the one priest. And she does only see the truth in her dreams, or rather nightmares, from what I hear.  They go mad sometimes from the horrible things they see; that’s why she was walking around making no sense the other night,” she said, then slowly walked away.

Telios stared at his hands and prayed again.  Corean had led him to the truth.  Now would Corean lead him to what he should do?

 


End file.
